Why are officers higher level?

[Akisa]

I noticed that people tend to make officers better then sergeants. Sergeants tend to be the one who has more experience and (aside from prior enlistment) officers tend to come better of family who gets placed in that position.

[BRC]

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But yeah. What you say is correct, although it depends on the type of force. A more organized force is more likely to have officers who are meant to be tacticans, not fighters, whereas less organized forces are more likely to consider veterancy over tactical skill. Generally, I use Marshals or modified Bards as officers.

Mainly, it's based off the principle that you can cause the most damage to the army by killing the general, and therefore generals should be tougher to kill. I find a better way to handle that is to give the general awesome bodyguards. Rather than having your general as a 10th level figher, make him a bard or marshal with an honor guard of 7th level fighters or somthing.

[snoopy13a]

I noticed that people tend to make officers better then sergeants. Sergeants tend to be the one who has more experience and (aside from prior enlistment) officers tend to come better of family who gets placed in that position.

That's actually a good point. .

However, if the town guard is set up the same way as modern police departments instead of the army system, (one is promoted from patrolmen to sergeant to lieuteanant to captain) than the officers would have more experience.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Depends a lot on the situation. Remember, D&D, despite paying lip service to Feudalism, is actually a meritocracy by necessity. The 10th-level Fighter is fully capable of killing dozens of grunts before dying. He's going to get what he wants.

[Akisa]

Depends a lot on the situation. Remember, D&D, despite paying lip service to Feudalism, is actually a meritocracy by necessity. The 10th-level Fighter is fully capable of killing dozens of grunts before dying. He's going to get what he wants.

Dominate Person... no he does what I want...

[Artanis]

Another example of that is Starship Troopers (the book, of course). You only get to go to "officer school" (so to speak) by starting at grunt and being promoted up through the ranks, which in turn only happens by being damned good (and badass enough to survive fighting zerg with laser guns that long). A similar situation goes for the navy.

And then there's the Sky Marshal, supreme commander of the entire human military. The only people who are even eligible for that position are ones who have become an officer in both the navy AND the Mobile Infantry, meaning they're as badass as badass gets.

[RPGuru1331]

Dominate Person... no he does what I want...

It's not often I see someone troll their own thread.

[Telonius]

I think it has to do with skill selection. If you're basing your "Sergeant" around a drill sergeant? That guy maxed out ranks in Intimidate, with Skill Focus (Intimidate) as his feat. Not saying he couldn't actually kick some butt - pity the poor recruit who calls him on it - but he's a lot scarier than he actually should be. And for good reason. It's his job to toughen people up.

But with an officer, they have to have some of their skills spread in other areas - Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nobility), Diplomacy, Sense Motive. And many of their encounters aren't going to be combat encounters. They'll probably have levels in Aristocrat (if they're an NPC), which gives them a slower BAB progression, but better social and intellectual skills. And that's how an officer hurts you. He doesn't kill you personally, he sends out the Sergeant to do that.

[Toliudar]

For me, it's all about skill points. It's always possible to create an analogue to contemporary North American military (I'm not familiar enough to comment on other systems), with officers having a couple levels of aristocrat or expert, but by and large, I want my high level officers to have more than a couple ranks in intimidate, diplomacy and/or sense motive.

[Akisa]

It's not often I see someone troll their own thread.

Sorry I had to throw that jab in... I guess the compulsion overwhelmed me.

[Darrin]

I noticed that people tend to make officers better then sergeants. Sergeants tend to be the one who has more experience and (aside from prior enlistment) officers tend to come better of family who gets placed in that position.

It has to do with social class (as opposed to class levels). Grunt soldiers are often drafted/conscripted from the lower social classes, or if you have a volunteer army, then the volunteers tend to be unemployed/unskilled laborers looking for a steady paycheck. As a career soldier, you can get promoted up through the ranks, where you get several tiers of sergeants, and yeah, many of them have more experience in the military than most officers. But they're called Petty Officers or NCOs (Non-Commissioned-Officers), and can't go up any further without going through some kind of officer training program.

Commissioned Officers usually come out of some kind of prep school or university program, start at Lieutenant (2nd or 3rd grade) and work their way up. They are much more likely to come from the middle and upper social classes, but the original idea that the officer position must be "bought" either through some sort of university degree or officer training program still remains.

This goes way back to feudalism. Originally, only landed nobles were allowed to hire soldiers, but if they did a little too much of this the king got quite nervous. Most kings required a noble to purchase a "Commission" which specifically allowed him to be in command of a certain body of troops. This commission may have passed down via heirs and entailments, or granted via some favor to the king, or purchased by wealthy citizens from a king trying to gather funding for a military campaign.

When army/navy size went through the roof in the Napoleonic era, things got a bit wackier as the demand for officers likewise skyrocketed and there just wasn't enough nobility to go around. Lower social classes could become officers, but they often still needed to buy their commission either from spoils of war or via a rich patron. You may see a lot of this in various Jane Austen or Patrick O'Brian novels.

Actually, on a naval vessel, it gets much more complicated. In addition to Petty Officers, there are Warrant Officers which may be required by certain government bodies but are not commissioned by the royal sovereign. On top of that if the vessel is large enough you'll have Commissioned Officers that are responsible to a royal sovereign. If the ship is also carrying marines or other types of infantry, they will have their own chain of command and their own Commissioned Officer in charge of them, but he won't necessarily be part of the chain of command on the ship. A Sailing Master, for example, could be the "Captain" of a ship, and although he is only a Warrant Officer, he may outrank a marine officer while the marines are on his ship.

If you think there may be some animousity about the career grunt sergeants having a rather low opinion of the inexperienced fancy-pants wet-behind-the-ears silver-spoon officers that get put in charge of them... *no, that never, ever happens*.

(* = sarcasm.)

[sihnfahl]

If you think there may be some animousity about the career grunt sergeants having a rather low opinion of the inexperienced fancy-pants wet-behind-the-ears silver-spoon officers that get put in charge of them... *no, that never, ever happens*.(* = sarcasm.)

That is, of course, unless Mr. ShinyPantsWithRazorSharpCreases does something intelligent.

Like, oh, LISTEN to the more experienced people he's in command of until he isn't so wet behind the ears?

[Doomsy]

If I remember right, Master Chief and a few other NCO ranks are actually 'above' certain junior grade officer ranks.

In modern military theory the officers are generally less equipped for combat than their troops - they are the brains, not the brawn. NCOs and minor officer ranks will see more combat time then their officers, but they also do not have the logistics and strategic training of their superiors.

In feudal military set ups it was essentially a crapshoot. Conscript forces were generally crap except in large numbers, though yeoman drills could substantially improve their ability - especially archers and such. Actual equipment issues and gear were haphazard. The men in charge could be skilled veteran officers - or nobles who had a shiny suit of armor and no real military experience. Standing, well trained, and disciplined military forces were the kind of things that made kings very nervous- hence they were either the royal force or mercenaries. Mercenaries were the technicians of war, trained, skilled, and by the standards of the day pretty damn loyal. Unlike your summoned levees they were loyal to the person that paid them only and they were unlikely to engage in retarded heroics or to balk at particularly brutal duty - at least one riot in Rome was put down by mercenary bodyguards who simply slaughtered the rioters after the local forces refused to intervene, fearing repercussions.

NCOs were likely to be minor nobility - we're not talking about the Duke of York, we're talking about the master at arms who got himself a nice keep after he managed to rally his lords troops or otherwise displayed martial prowess. High ranking nobility is as much politics & economics as military skill. A Song of Ice and Fire actually does it pretty well in this regard, I've found. Generally, while trained in the art of warfare, the nobility had a large number of loyal household bannermen and minor nobles who acted as their NCOs.

[mangosta71]

Officers are higher level because you have to be 6th level at least to qualify for the leadership feat, and the easiest way to increase the number of followers you have is leveling up.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Sorry I had to throw that jab in... I guess the compulsion overwhelmed me.

B'dum csh!

Someone's on a roll.